Day 11 – Wednesday 1 August

Edinburgh – Pitlochry

Pitlochry Fish Ladder (Wikipedia)

Llyn Vyrnwy, from a photograph by Sean Hattersley (Wikipedia)

Having enjoyed a rest day under a civilised roof Mick and I set off in good spirits to find our way across the Firth of Forth, accompanied by Simon (aged 14) who intended to ride until lunch and then take to the van.

We found our way across Edinburgh to the Forth road bridge, the third suspension bride of the trip but the second with a separate foot/cycle way to the side. The view of the Forth railway bridge was impressive. Over the bridge and on to Cowdenbeath, which struck a chord with me as the home of a well known Scottish football club, round the shore of Loch Leven, through Kinross and on to Bridge of Earn just south of Perth for lunch with Liz. Simon had ridden the last 15 miles with us into Perth; on succeeding days he rode occasionally as well.

I was to revisit Perth and Bridge of Earn the following day, but not on my bicycle.

At Perth we rode alongside the River Tay for a while until our route cut across a long meander, eventually joining up again at Dunkeld, on what is now Route 77. We stayed at the Faskally Caravan and Camping Site, close to the Pitlochry dam where there is a salmon staircase. I recall helping another camper with something but can’t remember what it was. I think we must have had a second smaller tent for Simon and Philip to sleep in, maybe it was my old Blacks Good Companion tent that I still have; very good in its day.

Pitlochry used to be (and maybe still is) the location of the finals of the British One Act Play Festival, held at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre. In my day I was a member of an amateur drama group and while we got through to the second round of the one act play festival held at Malvern we never progressed any further. Some members of the group went up to Pitlochry for the finals each year, staying on the same camp site.

On the following day, Thursday 2 August, I crashed breaking my shoulder and although Mick, Liz and the boys completed the route to John O’Groats, my ride was over. So the following year Liz and I returned to Pitlochry to enable me to complete the route.

Sunday 26 May 1991

Liz and I drove up from Wales, where on Saturday we had joined some friends to ride round Llyn Llanwddyn (Llyn Vyrnwy) and Liz and I had stayed in a B&B in Abertridwr. We got to Pitlochry in the early evening, booked into our B&B and then walked into the town and enjoyed a fish and chip supper.